Carr's ministers savaged over Orange Grove affair

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The careers of two state ministers are on the line after a
damning submission to the corruption watchdog on their behaviour in
the Orange Grove affair.

The junior planning minister, Diane Beamer, failed to act
impartially when she blocked rezoning of the Orange Grove factory
outlet, and evidence of the Housing Minister, Joe Tripodi, was "not
reliable", according to counsel assisting the Independent
Com-mission Against Corruption inquiry into the case.

But the draft submission by Jeremy Gormly, SC, clears the
Premier, Bob Carr, of any wrongdoing. The commission is still to
rule on the allegations of corruption surrounding the decision to
close the outlet.

Orange Grove's owner, Nabil Gazal, said last May that Mr Tripodi
had told him the State Government was closing his centre as a
favour to a nearby rival, Westfield, something Mr Tripodi
denied.

In his submission, seen by the Herald, Mr Gormly says
there was no evidence to support the Government's concerns that
this was the case. He also accepts the Gazal camp's version of
events as more believable.

Mr Gormly says Mr Ryan "could not have had a personal belief
that corruption had occurred because he had no evidence on which to
base that belief".

He acknowledges Mr Ryan may have had suspicions and that he was
entitled to report them but nothing more. "Yet he did do more. He
asserted there was corruption in the [development application] and
that the ministerial decision making process was at risk."

Mr Wedderburn acted appropriately in listening to Mr Ryan's
concerns but not when he failed to test whether they were true. "He
does not appear to have considered the prejudicial nature of the
allegations or the impact they might have, or be perceived to have,
in poisoning the minister's mind against [Mr Gazal's company]
Gazcorp."

Ms Beamer also assumed the allegations were true, and so refused
to hear from Gazcorp. As a result her decision was "fatally flawed
and not capable at the least, of the title impartial either under
the ICAC Act in administrative law, in the eyes of the adversely
affected party or in the eyes of any other person likely to have
their fate determined by exercise of a statutory ministerial
discretion".

Mr Gormly says that Mr Gazal's version of his meeting with Mr
Tripodi on May 22 last year was to be preferred. He describes Mr
Tripodi's evidence as not showing the "same amount of frankness",
as "unsatisfactory and unconvincing" and "not reliable'.

There is no mention of the Planning Minister, Craig Knowles, in
the submission. Mr Knowles opened Mr Gazal's centre and was lobbied
by Gazcorp but was not involved in its rezoning.

The submission also finds no evidence of "a favouring of Mr Lowy
for personal reasons" or evidence of Mr Carr giving explicit
instructions to block the Orange Grove development to protect the
Government.